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A review by kindra_demi
The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
I'm so sad this book didn't live up to the hype I've seen about it. Maybe it's part of the journey, but it felt like this book was 400 pages of exposition and world building, and the story actually began in the last 100ish pages. The TL;DR of my review basically is the complaints stem from this. The fact that not much really happened for so many pages set up so many characters/aspects to not really grow or be developed more.
I get that the characters have 3 books to grow in, but I do wish we saw a bit of growth and change. Yes you see characters who initially weren't going to help because of their beliefs start to help, but their "help" is outweighed with how stubborn/closed off they were still being in other areas. I recognize that Nahri is thrown into a new world and so there is going to be shock and resistance from her, but we barely get a taste of her taking her new life into her own hands (truly and genuinely. Not in a way where she is just trying to figure out the basics of her new life) in the last few chapters.
What had me most excited was that it was a book for those who love politics, and while yes it does have some politics, because of how it was written and the overall progression of the storyline, you just kept getting told the same things over and over again. Most of this book is setting up alliance and rivalries, the background to a couple of those alliances and rivalries, but it's those last 100-150 pages where we see action and the effects of those alliances and rivalries. I will also give that if I wasn't super into political stories, it would get confusing to follow the political world building.
I really hope that the next books are better because I was initially so excited for the trilogy, but this first book isn't meeting what I hoped for it.
I get that the characters have 3 books to grow in, but I do wish we saw a bit of growth and change. Yes you see characters who initially weren't going to help because of their beliefs start to help, but their "help" is outweighed with how stubborn/closed off they were still being in other areas. I recognize that Nahri is thrown into a new world and so there is going to be shock and resistance from her, but we barely get a taste of her taking her new life into her own hands (truly and genuinely. Not in a way where she is just trying to figure out the basics of her new life) in the last few chapters.
What had me most excited was that it was a book for those who love politics, and while yes it does have some politics, because of how it was written and the overall progression of the storyline, you just kept getting told the same things over and over again. Most of this book is setting up alliance and rivalries, the background to a couple of those alliances and rivalries, but it's those last 100-150 pages where we see action and the effects of those alliances and rivalries. I will also give that if I wasn't super into political stories, it would get confusing to follow the political world building.
I really hope that the next books are better because I was initially so excited for the trilogy, but this first book isn't meeting what I hoped for it.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Gore, Slavery, Blood, and War
Minor: Rape and Alcohol